Availability: Unique. It's just five them. Two are Knights, the others are Apprentices.

Deployment: Limited.

Strengths & Weaknesses:

Well-coordinated, trained in lightsabre combat and and able to use the Force.

Use of HRD bodies gives the Shards incredible strength. For a short period they can lift triple their weight. As they feel no pain they can use their bodies as weapons or to smash through barriers.

The same bodies make them extremely resilient. An HRD can take several blaster bolts to the head or chest before the unit fails. Limbs can be severed and severe damage done, but they will press on regardless.

The same HRD bodies make them vulnerable to ion or electrical attacks. Armour makes them more resistant to a degree, but powerful ion blasts or Force Lightning attacks can damage vital systems, even if their bodies are not destroyed. If their bodies are destroyed or disabled, the Shards are extremely vulnerable since they depend on their mechanical bodies.

Furthermore, their bodies are vulnerable to mechu-deru and magnetism.

Extremely small unit. It's just five of them.

Not equipped to go up against heavy armour.

Droid bodies prohibit them from using electricity-based Force powers such as Force Lightning, Disable Droid etc. These would backfire on them.

Cannot swim due to heavy droid bodies. Difficulty traversing muddy grounds and at risk of sinking in swamps. While they are very fast, their robot chassis prevent them from pulling off the kind of acrobatics Force-users are known for.

HRD bodies are powerful, but in the high tech modern galaxy they are not invulnerable. Blaster bolts to the head or chest can damage or disable them, as can powerful explosives and especially lightsabres, since their skeletons are only made of durasteel.

Description:

During the last years of the Old Galactic Republic the silicon based lifeforms known as Shards were discovered on the distant world of Orax. These innocuous crystalline lifeforms were immobile, living in caves for all their long lives, communing telepathically. Those who discovered them found that they could be mounted in special droids and thus be able to leave their homeworld and explore. Some Shards even had the ability to use the Force, but they were not accepted by the Jedi Order, even though some did become Iron Knights. Indeed, the Jedi Knight who taught them about the Force was excommunicated. The fall of the Old Republic brought the Galactic Empire to power. Emperor Palpatine distrusted any Force Users he could not control, and so he launched a purge. Many Shards were destroyed and they were banned from being uplifted into droid bodies.

A former Iron Knight, who would eventually become known as Onyx, escaped the purge, along with four of his brethren. Vanishing into the unknown, they eventually reached the Rishi Maze. There they found the remains of an ancient Dyson Sphere, and a ring world, fed by the power of the massive structure. Here, they found the tools to one day enact their revenge with. They were also corrupted and probably driven insane by the whispers of what lay inside the Sphere.

Regardless, they built war machines and gathered other Shards to form an armada. They called themselves the Contingency. Flash forward almost a millennia, and they launched the Incursion, a series of skirmishes against various galactic powers that ultimately led to the rather strange Battle of Tartarus. Long story cut short, the Contingency's doomsday device was destroyed and the insane Onyx was slain by a rather unlikely coalition.

One of its members was Enyo Typhos. Ironically, she'd briefly been an ally of the Contingency, after being recruited by one of their agents, a Shard called Garnet. Being an unrepentant, selfish opportunist, Enyo used the Contingency's resources to deal a powerful blow to her creators in her ongoing war against Archangel. Then turned on her allies when she no longer needed them - and after discovering the machine's true purpose.

Deciding that her leaders were too unstable and probably under the control of cosmic horrors, Garnet joined her. While the Contingency's plot was foiled, not all of its forces were destroyed. In the aftermath of the battle, Enyo and Garnet reached out to some of the scattered Contingency forces. Naturally, many did not want to join two turncoats who'd helped ruin the dream to make the Galaxy pay for atrocities committed almost a millennia ago.

Among those who joined were an elite team of Force-sensitive Shards called the Stahlritter, who'd worked closely with Garnet during the buildup to the Battle of Tartarus. Like her, they'd been sent out to gather intelligence, spread misinformation and sow the seeds of chao, participating in various skirmishes. Thus they had not been on Tartarus for the last years before the Incursion, when the corruption really set in.After participating in strikes like the attacks on Sullust and Commenor, they returned to the ring world for the battle.

And realised just how bad things were. When the galactic coalition invaded Tartarus, the Stahlritter fought, but ultimately pulled out and went dark. Their plans for revenge had been undone. In the aftermath, their former handler reached out to them. Tense negotiations ensued. Enyo and Garnet had helped thwart the Contingency's plans, but their leaders had also failed them. Adrift and devoid of purpose, the Stahlritter agreed to joined their cause, though not as mindless drones.

As a gift and to augment their capabilities, these Shards were implanted into HRD bodies. Enyo had acquired from pillaging Archangel's resources. These bodies make them extremely strong, fast and durable, though they suffer from the usual machine vulnerabilities. The Stahlritter are a unit of tough warriors, able to utilise the advantages of HRDs while also being able to draw upon the Force. Unsurprisingly, they follow the Dark Side. After all, they once signed up for a campaign to subjugate the Galaxy, and their present boss is a Lawful Evil warlord/mafia boss. Thus they are free of moral scruples, making them utterly ruthless in combat. On paper, they still follow a code similar to that of the Iron Knights, but time, various moral compromises and the influence of the Dark Side have twisted it. Thus they are merciless and ruthless in combat.

They are all trained in the use of lightsabres, though their mechanical bodies impose certain limitations on them. The Shards are trained in the use of the five classical styles of lightsabre combat. The one exception is Ataru, as they cannot leap about and pull off intense acrobatics due to their bodies being too heavy. In terms of Force use, they specialise in the following powers:

Telekinesis

Force barrier and energy absorption

Precognition

With the exception of the units designated Opal and Paraiba, all of the Stahlritter are Apprentice level, which is reflected by their command over their powers. Each squadmate can operate independently, of course. Able to coordinate their actions in a near-seemless manner, they are most effective when they act as a unit instead of lone wolves. Above all, they are a good support force.

When deployed in concert with other Iron Fist Consortium forces the Stahlritter can provide Force-based support, or advance and cover soldiers by reflecting incoming blaster fire with their lightsabres. Their defensive powers enable them to soak up damage to a degree, especially from energy-based weapons, while telekinesis can be used in an offensive manner to help their comades advance. However, they would be vulnerable if outnumbered and are not meant to deal with heavy armour or storm fortified enemy strongholds on their own. While each Stahlritter is a strong fighting unit, their primary purpose is to serve as a support force, using a combination of Force powers, duelling skills and the offensive and defensive capabilities of their sturdy HRD bodies to bolster the fighting capabilities or Iron Fist Consortium forces.

While the Stahlritter have bent the knee and sworn an oath of allegiance to Enyo, they're more independent than the cyborgs and droids that comprise the bulk of her forces. As a brain in a jar, she is closer to a Shard than to normal organic beings or droids, but still not quite one. Thus their loyalty is not solely to her, but also to Garnet and finally their own cause. Of course, they also use bodies she knows very well, and she happens to be a skilled technopath. This gives her some insurance.

Though disillusioned by their dead leaders, they still feel disdain for most non-Shards. Thus they keep themselves aloof from the ranks and file of the Iron Fist Consortium. They still strive to find other members of their decimated species, and bring them into the fold.